21st Century Skills and Digital Citizenship
7
Laura Di Nardo
Laura Di Nardo<EMAIL_ADDRESS>University of Ontario Institute of Technology
Abstract
Digital citizenship has been a focus of teachers since the use of technology began to centre around content creation and interactions online. Teachers concerned themselves with their students’ ability to be responsible and ethical in an online environment. As the use of technology and the internet continues to evolve, teachers must now focus on digital leadership. Digital leadership supports the view that students should be learning and connecting with others of similar interests online, sharing their learning and creating content. Student social media accounts should be used to promote positivity and support one another. They should be looking to the internet as a space where their voice can be heard and they can speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves. If educators begin to promote the idea of the internet as a place where students must focus on creating and maintaining a personal brand. Students would remain focused on determining how they want to be seen and heard online and can therefore develop useful strategies which will support them as they continue to learn and grow in an ever changing online landscape.
Keywords: branding, digital citizenship, digital leadership, social media, teaching strategies
Introduction
Digital citizenship is a topic which has gained popularity among teachers with the increase in number of technology-based pedagogical tools in the classroom. Students transitioned from using computers for word processing and information gathering to a model which sees them networking, engaging in social media, sharing their lives online and creating content. With this came the idea that students needed to be taught how to be digital citizens and understand the potential consequences and implications of their online actions. They needed to be taught how to be critical thinkers and be wary of how much and to whom their information was being shared (Dotterer, Hedges & Parks, 2016 ). This chapter will explore the positive shift from a focus on digital citizenship to digital leadership as it pertains to the K-12 context in the Ontario education system.
Background Information
As students’ personal use of technology increases with the availability and increased affordability of smartphones, tablets, Chromebooks and laptops, students’ ability to utilize online spaces safely is of great importance. With the addition of 1:1 – student to technology – models becoming far more prevalent in schools, teaching about online tools and environments falls increasingly to the teacher. This focus on ensuring safe environments in schools lead to many school board policies focused on keeping personal devices out of the classroom. These policies seem counter-intuitive to the endless learning possibilities a device can offer a student. This section will focus on how the concepts of digital citizenship,